Uptown & Seattle Center
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January 2017 uptown & seattle center STRATEGIC PARKING STUDY STAFF OFFICE OF THE MAYOR TRANSPO GROUP Jackie Kirn Dan McKinney Seattle Center Redevelopment Project Manager Principal Kevin Shively Stefanie Herzstein Senior Policy Advisor Senior Transportation Engineer Cameron Duncan SEATTLE CENTER Graphic Designer Robert Nellams Director Mary Wideman-Williams Deputy Director/Chief Operating Officer Jill Crary Redevelopment Director Julia Levitt Strategic Advisor, Redevelopment Diane Hilmo Senior Capital Projects Coordinator OFFICE OF PLANNING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Jim Holmes Senior Planner DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Jonathan A. Williams Senior Transportation Planner CONTENTS Introduction................................................................................................................................................................4 1 Framework..................................................................................................................................................................8 2 Existing Parking Conditions................................................................................................................................12 3 Future Parking Conditions....................................................................................................................................26 4 Potential Parking Management Strategies.....................................................................................................40 Appendix A Summary of Public Outreach Conducted for this Study ...................................................45 Appendix B Parking Data Sources.......................................................................................................................49 Appendix C Seattle Center Event Data.............................................................................................................51 Appendix D Parking Model Assumptions.........................................................................................................55 Appendix E Mode Shifts.........................................................................................................................................59 INTRODUCTION The Uptown Urban Center and Seattle Center are exceptional places for people to live, work, visit and play. As a regional destination and economic engine for the City, this area is key to Seattle’s future and how it will adapt to expected population growth over the next 20 years. Decisions made about Uptown and Seattle Center will impact Seattle’s environment, access to arts and cultural events, jobs, affordable housing, racial equity, and social justice for years to come. Access, including multi-modal transportation and parking, is an issue that will impact virtually every decision about growth in the Uptown area. Parking is a significant piece of Seattle’s transportation system. For Uptown and Seattle Center, parking plays a vital role in providing access to this area for residents, employees, and visitors. This Uptown/Seattle Center Strategic Parking Study (Study) is the most comprehensive look to date at parking. It is not a plan, it a baseline of information that will help inform decisions affecting Uptown and Seattle Center. 4 KEY FINDINGS This Study confirms that the area around Seattle Center has sufficient parking during most days, but the public parking supply begins to reach capacity during large event evenings and weekend festivals. Parking congestion happens about 120 days per year, including 30-35 days when demand from peak evening events and weekend festivals fills nearly all publicly available parking in the area. Other findings in the Study include: • Maintaining access to Seattle Center and Uptown at the same level experienced today will require a variety of transportation strategies as the area continues to grow and change. • The arrival of Link Light Rail in 2035 will improve access and reduce pressure on the parking supply in Uptown. Until then, the City should manage the parking supply in phases, as zoning changes, capital investment and plans for Seattle Center take shape. Because travel options, patterns of development, and parking can change substantially over time, the City should use an adaptive approach to manage access and parking in Uptown. • Without other major changes to travel costs or behaviors, it is estimated that roughly 6700 of today’s 7400 total publicly available parking spaces in Uptown may still be needed to handle event parking demand once Link Light Rail service reaches Seattle Center in 2035. • Maintaining 6700 public parking spaces may be achieved by retaining or replacing approximately half of the stalls in the 1300-stall Mercer St. Garage, if the site of the garage is redeveloped in the future. The Mercer St. Garage is 54 years old and has significant deferred maintenance issues that will need to be addressed if its useful life is to be extended. 5 THE IMPORTANCE OF UPTOWN AND SEATTLE CENTER Uptown is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Seattle and, as a designated Urban Center, it serves as an important resource for housing, jobs, transportation, and arts and cultural activities. With 297 acres, it is home to about 9,300 residents and 15,000 jobs. Seattle 2035, Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan, estimates Uptown will grow by 3,000 housing units and 2,500 jobs by 2035. Seattle Center hosts 12 million visitors annually. It is the busiest destination for arts, culture and entertainment in Washington State, attracting local, national, and international visitors. It is also the home to more than 30 cultural, educational and entertainment organizations, both for-profit and non-profit, providing thousands of free or low-cost events and activities each year. Seattle Center plays an essential role in supporting arts and culture. By providing affordable spaces for performances, rehearsals, production and operational support, Seattle Center has enabled the Seattle Opera, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Northwest Folklife Festival, Bumbershoot, Seattle Repertory Theatre and others to grow their audiences and become foundational to the cultural identity of our City. Seattle Center also advances the City’s commitment to eliminate racial disparities and achieve racial equity. The year-long, free series of cultural celebrations known as Festal and the July 4th naturalization ceremony welcoming new US citizens are examples of public events that promote and celebrate Seattle’s rich diversity. 6 HOW UPTOWN URBAN CENTER AND SEATTLE CENTER IMPACT SEATTLE’S FUTURE Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan, Seattle 2035, is a framework for how the City can grow while preserving and improving neighborhoods. It guides decisions on where to locate urban centers and villages that are hubs for new jobs and housing, how to improve our transportation system, and where to make capital investments such as utilities, sidewalks, and libraries. As one of the four contiguous Urban Centers in the downtown area designated in the Comprehensive Plan, Uptown plays a key role in downtown’s growth, with Seattle Center representing nearly one-fourth of the Uptown neighborhood’s geographic area. At Seattle Center, KeyArena is the biggest event venue and the number one driver of spectator event attendance on campus. In 2017, the City of Seattle will ask for proposals that could substantially change how KeyArena is currently used and enhance its ability to draw visitors. All proposers will be asked to address the impacts of their proposal on transportation and parking in the Uptown area. This study will be provided to proposers as a reference for those responses. This study analyzes the effects of future growth based on the highest- intensity projections studied in the Uptown Rezone Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The impact of new and emerging transportation trends will need further analysis as more information becomes available. Changes such as Link Light Rail, the growth in car sharing services, the reduction of single occupancy vehicles, pricing strategies, and more will all play a role in future planning. 7 FRAMEWORK This Strategic Parking Study is a tool to help • The goals for Uptown described in the inform future planning efforts in Uptown and Uptown Urban Design Framework (UDF) Seattle Center. It evaluates existing public parking conditions, models the impacts of estimated • The Seattle Center’s Century 21 Master FRAMEWORK future growth, and identifies short- and long-term Plan Planning and Design Principles strategies to manage parking. • The City of Seattle’s policies and procedures This Study was coordinated with the • The financial stability of Seattle transportation analyses for the Uptown Rezone Center, for which parking is a EIS, to help consider and develop parking substantial revenue generator strategies for on and off-street parking. • The operational and financial importance The process for preparing both documents of the Seattle School District’s public involved meetings with key stakeholders including parking lot at Memorial Stadium local businesses, residents, and Seattle Center organizations. See Appendix A for a full list of • Seattle Center’s role as an inclusive, outreach events and a summary of notes. equitable destination and resource for local, regional and global visitors Here are some of the key considerations reflected 1 in this Study: • The needs of the resident arts and cultural organizations at Seattle Center to be sufficiently accessible for their patrons, especially those